Viva Challenge: wear your socks to bed

It’s amazing that our feet do so much for us every day and yet do not receive sufficient tender loving care. So this week’s challenge is to give your feet some attention every night. Actually, I’ve been neglecting my feet for awhile now and so the real reason for this challenge is that I need some rallying for the cause.

Promote penetration of foot cream
This challenge is very easy. Just apply some foot cream every night and put on a pair of socks before heading to bed. Why the socks? Because the snug fit warms the skin and promotes penetration of the foot cream.

Promotes better body resistance
Another reason for the socks is to protect the body from the attack of external cold, as Traditional Chinese Medicine suggest that simple remedies such as keeping the feet warm works effectively. (source)

“Cold starts under the feet” – the feet on the most far part of the body from the heart with the least blood circulation and the lowest temperature. When the feet get cold, it affects the upper respiratory system and impairs the body resistance. This may in turn leads to common cold, upper respiratory infection, abdominal pain and painful period, even cardiovascular diseases.

In fact, it is even encouraged to soak your feet in a hot tub of water nightly for 20 to 30 minutes but I guess not everyone is able to achieve this. Well, I know I can’t.

You can use any pair of socks to achieve this challenge. But I found these cute ones at Watsons. Dubbed the moisturizing socks, it actually has locations of the meridian points of our major organs. Kind of cute aren’t they?

Other ways to pamper and care for your feet
There are other things you can do to care for your feet other than applying foot cream and putting on a pair of socks of course. You may want to consider indulging them in a tub of epsom salt foot soak once or twice a week. You can also use an exfoliating scrub to get rid of the dead skin, plus use a pumice stone to get rid of hard skin amongst other things.

Comments

I really have to get down to doing this! I don’t know why, the last week has seen my feet dried out. =((( Dead skin just keep forming and peeling off. I attribute it to the excessive tea intake. Cos I happen to just bought a few types of tea. And I sort of had 3 cups a day, each time a different flavour. 3 is not overdosing, but it does seem dehydrating for me.

been feeling that my skin and especially the lips are drying out recently despite despite applying moisturizers and lip balms diligently.
is it just me or other readers in singapore feeling the same?

btw, going off a bit off-topic but still on the subject on feet, has anyone heard of the vibram five fingers “shoes”? (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/)
they look like foot gloves/socks but are actually athletic shoes for running, trekking etc. similar to the mbts, but closer to the actual “barefoot” running/walking with good protection.
in fact, there’s being an upcoming trend on going barefoot which is supposed beneficial for the body and feet, in esp. posture, back and leg problems.
http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/#

it’s interesting because other than fitflops, they are bringing in more shoe brands supposedly gd for our feet. the vibrams have been available in sg since late last year and terra plana just opened in mandarin gallery.

Hey, the vibram five fingers look interesting! Haven’t come across until now. Thanks for sharing this. I probably would try to get it if I were still actively trekking. Wonder how it’ll look on my feet. But I doubt I’ll go barefoot. A bit hard to step around on those streets and would probably cause more hard skin on my heels.

instead of doing anything to my feet, since I am too lazy, I just Slater this cream from drugstore called: Heel Rescue Foot Cream. I absolutely love it.

I don’t have rough feet nor cracked heels. I just put it on to keep my feet clean and prevent getting cracked, fungus, and any other stuff feet get. It makes it soft and nice. Also it can be used for elbows, knees..places that get dry. Sometimes I wear a sock once I put it on but not always.

i heard about that…but i kept forgetting to put on the sock…..i’m not sure if being asian have to do w/this but @ my house everyone take their shoes off before entering into the house…so now i’m @ work i feel the need to take my heel off when i’m @ my desk….wearing the heel all day hurt it’s good to let the feet breath alittle as well…

I neglect my poor little feet as well. 😛 They are always dirty.
I do sometimes wear gloves to bed with mositerizer on them. My hands are super soft when I wake up! I also drive with gloves on and apply sunscreen when I don’t. xD The only thing that I can seem to solve is my bad hangnails (I pick at them, bad habit! ) and my nails don’t grow very fast (I bite them, and otehr terrible habit! ) But that sounds like a good idea to pamper your feet regularitly too.
I have heard of that little foot chart though, the little pressure points are on your hands and feet as well.

Being that I live in a very warm climate, where it is usually 80 degress or above 355 days of the year, it is rare that I will wear socks to bed, and like you Sesame, if I do, I usually kick them off! Great post though, reminding us to take care of our tootsies! I inherited dry heels from my mom. When I remember, I use lotion on them. I need to remember more often!
Robin

oh! am a bit confused now. At one point of time, I used to live in a very cold place where temps could drop to 0 Celsius and I so wanted to wear socks to bed (to keep me warm!) but I was told that feet need to breathe and not to wear them!! So I just cuddled into the thick blankets. Have you ever heard of some such thing? Sigh, did I just miss out on pampering my feet

Hmm…I guess it’s an issue if it’s tight but our feet should still be able to breathe wearing them. Actually, in TCM practice, those that live in cold climate are advised to protect their feet by keeping them warm all the time.

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